Jack Burton - Long Journey, Fever Dream

With his second solo exhibition at Elika gallery, Jack Burton re-examines the way one perceives contemporary photography today. Always starting with his very own photographs, he creates collages on aluminium surfaces, a material that is clean and cold, and doesn’t let the compositions settle into something cozy and familiar.

Having assimilated the rules of photography, as well as those of various art movements, (pop, expressionism, abstract, street art, etc), he attempts a productive disruption, aiming at making the viewers transcend the stereotypes and preconditions they might have when they confront the work. Thus, they can “read” beyond what lies before their eyes and focus on the details.

In many cases, his works seem free and experimental, emerging through quick and decisive gestures, as if they originated from the artist’s subconscious, composing an absurd dream. A dream that ordinary photography fails to both portray and convey.

Stimuli and ideas floating inside the artist’s mind find an explosive way out through his work; like a long, personal journey on board a fast train, crossing urban landscapes, industrial zones, farmlands, advertising posters and billboards, anything that could unintentionally leave its mark upon us while living in a society of consumerism that relentlessly bombards us with images.

Jack Burton was born in Barry, South Wales in 1988. He graduated from the Royal Academy in 2017 and holds a BA in Fine Arts from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, where he graduated in 2010, and an M.res in Cultural Studies and Humanities from the London Consortium (2010-2011). He lives and works in London, U.K.